The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.13 Colleen Ballinger "stop lying" & "addressing everything" Controversies Explained & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards. Hope you have a fantastic Wednesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show on a day that I believe is the first day I've worn a dress shirt and pants in maybe two months. Big day for me. Thank you for being here on this momentous occasion. And a quick note, actually, before we jump into today's show, a podcast to conversation with is officially back over at youtube.com slash ACW with brand new content. And the first guest back is the fantastic Dr. Mike, which means, yes, we do cover some serious stuff, but a lot of this, just if you've been needing escapist content, you definitely wanna watch

Starting point is 00:00:31 and maybe even be a part of that conversation after today's show over at youtube.com.acw. But with that said, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. The first thing we're gonna talk about today is why we have Red Lobster in the news.

Starting point is 00:00:45 So apparently Red Lobster was the restaurant of choice on Mother's Day. The videos and images shared on social media showing these massive lines of people waiting to pick up orders at several different locations. With many customers reporting waiting between two to three hours for their orders while others walked away empty handed asking for refunds.

Starting point is 00:01:01 And though there were definitely angry customers at restaurants in New York, Illinois, all over the place, the angriest of them all seemed to be in Pennsylvania. In fact, at one location in the state, police were even called to try and keep things calm after the restaurant decided it had to shut down. And as you may have already seen online, there was a woman at an East York Red Lobster

Starting point is 00:01:16 that became so angry that there was this whole incident that got violent. The video opens up with somebody saying, "'Call 911, somebody.'" We then see an employee trying to force the angry customer out of the building. The woman then continues to try and push her way back in, demanding a refund.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Employees start talking about finding a key to lock the door as she continues to demand a refund. And at this point, there are now several workers at the front trying to keep her from entering. At this point, they tell her that all they need is her name to process the refund, so she shouts her name. Which, side note, ended up making it even easier entering. At this point they tell her that all they need is her name to process the refund so she shouts her name Which side note ended up making it even easier for people on the internet to start doxing her and that back and forth continues We then see an employee kind of nudge her away from the door trying to close it at which point then Kathy

Starting point is 00:01:56 escalates things even further when she smacks that employee in the face that employee then starts fighting back with others trying to step in to try And separate them after that fights broken up, we see Kathy say, I was assaulted and I had to hold Krause's use. You said it first! You said it first! She's been shoving up on me the whole time! At the end of the video, we hear someone off camera say, Hey customer, you got people out here waiting

Starting point is 00:02:16 for three hours for food! Right, so that's the main reason we're seeing Red Lobster in the news right now. And regarding Pennsylvania specifically, under Governor Tom Wolf's orders, restaurants in Pennsylvania must either be closed or operate with a takeout or delivery system to minimize social contact during the pandemic.

Starting point is 00:02:29 Also, customers at all establishments that remain operating as well as their employees are all required to wear masks to enter, which I will note looking back to that video, that doesn't appear to be going well. You see people without masks, you see people with masks but not covering their mouth or nose or at least just their nose.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Really, that's a whole other side issue to this story and things that we're gonna see in the future. Regarding Red Lobster and the issues at hand, we did end up seeing Red Lobster CEO issuing a statement on Tuesday apologizing to disappointed customers, noting that the chain had received significantly more orders than they've gotten

Starting point is 00:02:57 on a single day and were unable to keep up. Also stressing that the company is working on making sure this never happens again. Also, in another statement to local news outlets, a company spokesperson attributed the issues to operational and staffing changes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. And finally, as far as that brawl

Starting point is 00:03:11 at the East York Red Lobster, the company said, "'We do not tolerate violence for any reason "'in our restaurants. "'We expect our team members treat our guests with respect, "'and we expect our guests to treat our team members "'with respect in return. "'We are grateful our manager and the guest involved "'were not seriously injured in the incident on Sunday."

Starting point is 00:03:26 Which really is an award-winning non-statement if I've ever seen one. They essentially said, we are against bad things and people doing things that we do not agree with, but we are glad that nobody got hurt. As far as everyone else's reaction to this incident, we saw people kind of in two camps.

Starting point is 00:03:39 There's some people saying, we don't know what happened inside. Obviously, if you're waiting for your food for two to three hours and maybe the staff isn't properly informing you, you're gonna be outraged. Also, as far as who started what on this idea, people saying, you know, essentially pushing her

Starting point is 00:03:51 out of the store was the first act of aggression. But on the other side of this, and it appeared at least on social media to be the majority, a lot of people just found this woman to be in the wrong. Right, arguing that the employees want to give her her money back, but she's being belligerent. She actually swings at an employee,

Starting point is 00:04:03 escalating the situation. A number of people calling her an money back, but she's being belligerent. She actually swings at an employee, escalating the situation. A number of people calling her an angry Karen, which I will say that name is ridiculous. If anything, she's a red lobster Laura, or at the minimum, a cheese biscuit Betty. And as far as my opinion on this, based off of what we have publicly available right now, I end up feeling more sympathy for the employees here.

Starting point is 00:04:20 We're living in weird times, and I think we have to pull back on how entitled we are and understand that everyone's kind of just trying to do their best. Right, if I was in this situation and I was having to wait two to three hours to get a Red Lobster order, I'm just canceling that order and getting my money back. I'm leaving and when I look to Twitter and I see there was an example of a Red Lobster employee tweeting, Today was probably the craziest day at Red Lobster. We had 212 orders at once. People don't understand how busy we were today. 18 people called me a dumb ass, nine people flipped me off,

Starting point is 00:04:46 13 people told me to hurry the fuck up. I can't help but sympathize with the employees here, especially as someone that used to work at restaurants. It's also part of the reason I truly believe that you get to know who a person is based off of how they treat restaurant staff. But hey, that said, that's the story, some of my personal opinion based off of what we've seen,

Starting point is 00:05:02 and of course, I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then let's talk about this story that's easily one of the most requested non-CO of what we've seen. And of course I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then let's talk about this story that's easily one of the most requested non-COVID stories we've seen of late. And at the center of this story, you have an entertainer who among other things has really been a YouTube staple over the past decade,

Starting point is 00:05:14 Colleen Ballinger, AKA Miranda Sings. And part of the reason this has been so requested by so many different people is because the accusations that have recently come against her include a number of things. Accusations including racism, fat shaming, joking about putting her dog down, which notably did happen when she was a child. But all of these accusations also seem to surface after she was accused of something much more serious, which was grooming a child. And that child is now 17-year-old

Starting point is 00:05:37 Adam McIntyre. According to Adam, he used to be a huge fan of Ballinger. In fact, he said that he used to run fan accounts on Instagram and Twitter. But a couple of weeks ago, he saw him post a video titled Colleen Ballinger Stop Lying. And in this video, he says that he first met Colleen back in 2016 at a live show when he was 13. Saying he met her again at a show in 2018. And between this time, he says the two became good friends. He says they were talking a lot on social media

Starting point is 00:05:58 and notably during this time, she started to tell him private details about her divorce with Joshua Evans in 2016. Adam saying that his parents were originally supportive of Colleen interacting with him because he was such a fan, then saying they started to become cautious wondering why Colleen, who was 30 at the time, was sharing such private information with a minor. After that, Adam says that his relationship with Colleen turned into one where he was asked to look at drama channels to find out what they were saying about her, Evans, her ex-friends, and her fans. Also saying that his name ended up getting thrown into a lot of those situations, and that he ultimately faced cyberbullying because of it. Adam claiming his parents encouraged him

Starting point is 00:06:26 to distance himself. Also saying that he did several times but that he would always get sucked back in because Colleen would be nice. I try not to be upset with myself because I was 13 to 15 during this time. I'm still really young now, I'm only 17, but looking back it's hard to not get like, oh fix yourself, you know, stop engaging in that. You're being used. Also connected to this story, there was another incident between the two, and that is back in 2016,

Starting point is 00:06:51 Colleen sent him a pair of women's lingerie. And this specific story starts with a live stream where Colleen and her friend, Corey DeSoto, were showing off ugly clothes they bought at Forever 21. And in that, DeSoto puts underwear on over his clothes as a joke. They're promising to send them to fans. One of those fans ends up actually being Adam.

Starting point is 00:07:05 Yeah, Adam, let me know what you want. He's an Ireland. Hi, Adam, I love you. Okay, I'm sending him something. Okay, maybe he'll want the panties. Although then his parents will be like, you're not allowed to watch who is sending you panties. Even mom, don't worry.

Starting point is 00:07:22 I watched the boy wear this online first. And it would seem that even though she was joking about Adam's parents being mad, they were furious. Adam's saying they took the underwear right away, but apparently they kept it because in his video, Adam says that he asked his mom to try to find them. She does, and he shows them as proof that she actually sent them.

Starting point is 00:07:38 And notably, with this whole lingerie situation, it's a very large point of this story. It's something that Colleen has faced a lot of criticism for and it's something we're gonna come back to in a minute. But first, I wanna hit on one of the last points that Adam makes, and that is that not only does Adam say that Colleen asked him to look up information about her ex-husband and her ex-friends,

Starting point is 00:07:54 but according to Adam, she was also asking him for ideas to post to social media, with this allegedly including both her main accounts and her accounts as Miranda Sings. And he says this is because she didn't enjoy doing the Miranda character anymore since she couldn't be problematic as the character now. After that he then says he stopped for a while but said that he started giving more ideas on March 25th this year.

Starting point is 00:08:09 According to Adam she then starts tweeting some of his ideas. And with that Adam says that he pitched about 15 different tweet ideas, one of those including a tweet where Miranda Sings comes out as a Meghan Trainor fan. With Adam saying that she was initially confused about it, saying that she wasn't sure what he was trying to say about Meghan. He then says he explains the joke, she gives him the green light, giving him the login info for the Miranda Sings Twitter account, saying that she still trusts him. And then Adam posts that tweet. Now following that tweet going out,

Starting point is 00:08:30 you had a lot of fans and others on social media accusing Colleen of queer baiting, essentially accusing her of making fun of how scary and hard it is for so many LGBTQ plus people to come out. And Adam says that after that, Colleen sent him a message saying that she wasn't mad, just paranoid because quote,

Starting point is 00:08:43 "'Everyone always gets mad at me "'and I always have to apologize.'" We then see Colleen delete him a message saying that she wasn't mad just paranoid because quote everyone always gets mad at me and I always have To apologize then see Colleen delete that tweet privately telling Adam that it wasn't his fault and that she was just too sensitive later Ballinger messages him again saying she felt overwhelmed by all the backlash She was getting for that tweet and that she still didn't know what to do clean also telling him about how she apologized to one Person saying the thing is I agree with them. We're baiting is not a joke. I'm super sad I've upset so many people now Now, with all of that said, that's just how this situation started.

Starting point is 00:09:06 Following this incident, we started seeing the backlash and outrage against Colleen piling up. In addition to people sharing this, we also saw people starting to dig up her old videos, including one where she and her sister pretended to be two Latina women. In that video, it appears that they've darkened their skin, they have fake eyebrows on.

Starting point is 00:09:19 Also in it, they sing about crossing the border, working at Del Taco, making burritos. People also sharing a separate video where they accused her of fat shaming because of how she talks about an overweight woman who sat next to her on a plane. Also in another clip, making the rounds, you had Ballinger telling a story

Starting point is 00:09:31 about how when she was three, she dug her nails into the family dog. It yelps, bites her in the face, it was then put down. And so in this, she kind of jokes about how she murdered the family dog. And those were the three biggest videos that resurfaced that were making the rounds, a number of them years old.

Starting point is 00:09:43 I mean, for example, that video of her pretending to be Latina is actually 14 years old. All right, so you have all these different things, shots coming in from a lot of different sides, and then that ultimately brings us to yesterday because Colleen addressed a lot of these accusations. And in this video, she starts off with the claims that she was racist.

Starting point is 00:09:57 And the characters are completely based on racial stereotypes. It is not funny and it is completely hurtful. I am so ashamed and embarrassed that I ever thought this was okay. I was a sheltered teenager who was stupid and ignorant. Also saying that she went on to actually delete that video from her channel a few years ago

Starting point is 00:10:12 after it was posted. Following that apology, she apologized for fat shaming that woman on the plane. Also explaining that she's a huge advocate for body positivity now, accepting and loving of all body types. After that, she goes on to clarify her comments about that incident with her family dog,

Starting point is 00:10:24 saying that a doctor told the family that legally the dog needed to be put down and this actually made her very upset at the time. This, even though the video in question appeared to show her being insensitive about it. So you had her addressing those three things, but the meat of this video really seemed to be her addressing that video with Adam McIntyre

Starting point is 00:10:37 and the backlash that she's seen because of it. Now as to why she didn't address this sooner, she said that McIntyre's mother reached out to her asking her not to speak his name, but now she said that it's gotten to the point where she felt that she needed to tell her side of the story, and with that, she said that McIntyre's mother reached out to her asking her not to speak his name. But now she said that it's gotten to the point where she felt that she needed to tell her side of the story. And with that, she talks about the context

Starting point is 00:10:49 of why she sent McIntyre women's underwear when he was 13. And in this live stream, I did a giveaway. I was giving away clothes that were unused, tag still on, brand new, that I had just bought that I did not want. One of the items that was in this box was a really ugly pair of underwear.

Starting point is 00:11:03 As soon as we pulled them out, Cory and I started laughing and joking around about how ugly they were, why did I buy these ridiculous underwear, it was so stupid. Then notes how people started asking for them, Adam then asks for the underwear, and note, the original video does appear to back up that claim,

Starting point is 00:11:15 with Colleen going on to say that she actually forgot to send them, and so Adam asked again over Twitter, and that's when she sent them. And while she does note that she's always given away weird and random items, she says that she does now realize how inappropriate the whole situation was. Given away weird and random items, she says that she does now realize

Starting point is 00:11:25 how inappropriate the whole situation was. Given away weird stuff. And so in my mind at the time, this was no different than all the other weird stuff I send to my fans as a joke. Now in hindsight, I see how completely stupid of me. I should have never sent that. I don't know what part of my brain was missing at the time

Starting point is 00:11:41 that I thought, oh, this is a normal, silly thing to do. It was never a sneaky, creepy, gross thing that I was doing in secret. It was a silly, stupid mistake that now is being blown way out of proportion. Colleen also saying that she always believed McIntyre's mother was always very supportive about her interactions with Adam.

Starting point is 00:11:57 And adding that if she had known his mother was uncomfortable with the situation, that she would have cut off contact. And after that Colleen goes on to clarify her relationship with Adam and why she allowed him to tweet for her. Noting that she has for years publicly asked fans for advice on what to tweet. Then saying that she used have cut off contact. And after that, Colleen goes on to clarify her relationship with Adam and why she allowed him to tweet for her. Noting that she has for years publicly asked fans for advice on what to tweet. Then saying that she used some of Adam's tweets

Starting point is 00:12:10 a few years back, saying that after that, Adam asked her multiple times if he could come up with ideas for posts. And saying that most of the time, she actually didn't engage in those conversations until recently when he sent her a folder full of ideas. And after that, giving him what she described as a test run, saying that if it went well,

Starting point is 00:12:22 she wanted to hire him. Notably here, because there was kind of a conversation about guilt in Adam's video. She says that while he posted the tweet, that it was ultimately her fault in the first place because she didn't look over those ideas closely. And when he posted it, I put zero blame on him at all. It was my fault.

Starting point is 00:12:37 I knew better than to let someone else tweet for me. I should have reviewed closely every single thing that was going to come out of Miranda's mouth. I let him know that I loved him, he did a great job, it was my fault, not his. Colleen ending her video by saying she doesn't blame Adam, she wishes him success and that she hopes everyone can move on from the situation.

Starting point is 00:12:56 No, I should have never sent to fan underwear. How stupid am I? No, I definitely should have never given him access to my Twitter account. And no, I shouldn't have talked to him as often as I did. But I am not a monster, I am not a groomer, and I shouldn't kill myself." And in general, following all this, the response to Colleen has been overwhelmingly positive. People in general finding that she provided much-needed context while also at the same time owning up to past behavior.

Starting point is 00:13:19 Which I will say, one of the standouts from her video to me was when she was kind of talking about the the ignorant stereotype she's done in the past. It should not negate her talking about racism now. People were saying, how dare I talk about racism when I said these things 14 years ago. And to you I say, that is the exact reason why I should be talking about racism and why I should be standing up against it. Because I was one of the dumb ones who said that stupid thing and grew from it and learned from it and realized how hurtful it could be. And now I want to right my wrongs and make a difference so that other people don't make

Starting point is 00:13:49 the same mistakes that I made when I was a kid. And that was something that really stuck out to me because I don't think someone's past, especially something from 14 years ago, that it should lock them in a box, preventing them from their own personal growth. You know, it's the thing I kind of bring up from time to time unprompted. I hate who I was before. I would punch that guy in the face. Kind of also like Colleen said, I feel like I've very much grown because of the conversation I've had with my community. But yeah, ultimately that's where we are

Starting point is 00:14:10 with this story right now. Though I will note, this story is just now starting to really, really blow up. As we're filming today's show, Colleen's video hit number one on trending. We're starting to see the news articles come out. So yeah, this might end up being an interesting one to watch but with that said, of course,

Starting point is 00:14:23 I do wanna pass a question off to you. What are your thoughts around this whole situation? And that is where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, as always, thanks for watching, liking, being a part of the conversation, maybe even sharing. Also, if you're new here, you want to be a part of these daily dives into the news, be sure to hit that subscribe button,

Starting point is 00:14:37 maybe even tap that bell to turn on notifications. Also, if you're looking for more to watch, I definitely recommend you check out that brand new podcast I did with Dr. Mike, or maybe you just missed yesterday's show, you wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there to watch either of those right now.

Starting point is 00:14:48 But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow. I hope you liked this video. Subscribe if you like it.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.13 Colleen Ballinger "stop lying" & "addressing everything" Controversies Explained & More

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